


Life is strange

by mich_22wolves



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F, Inspired by Life Is Strange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:49:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22548832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mich_22wolves/pseuds/mich_22wolves
Summary: Based on the videogame Life is strange. Completely fine if you don't know the game. I also made lots of changes, so everyone is alive by the end of this.Lindsey comes back to Acardia Bay, rekindles her friendship with Emily and has her life turned on its head.
Relationships: Lindsey Horan/Emily Sonnett
Kudos: 16





	Life is strange

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my first language so sorry if sentences are strange.
> 
> Some parts of this might be very close to the game, others are completely different.

You literally don't know what just happened. You are quite clumsy, so your surprise was minimal when you spilled your entire water over your Literary Studies homework. But you can't even begin to hate yourself for ruining a perfectly good essay before there is an uncomfortable pressure in your head and everything around you gets blurry. Now your water is standing beside the paper, not a drop spilled. 

After pacing through your room for roughly two hours and spilling your water over and over again, you conclude, that, yes, you might be able to travel through time. Every time you formulate that sentence in your head it sounds more bizarre and you don't really know how to proceed with your life. Do you use it? Cause it is not the most pleasant practice. After two hours of experimenting, you have a mild nosebleed and a headache. The technicalities of this are also very unclear. How far can you travel? And do you move when you time travel or do you stay rooted on your spot while time changes around you? What if you mess up your entire life by traveling too far into the past? Sucks that you just moved here again and haven't bonded enough with anyone to tell them about your magical powers. Except for Emily. You bonded with Emily, but that was about five years ago. You only started reconnecting by the beginning of this month. You have to admit though, that Sonnett is still your safest bet. She already thinks you are insane anyway.

"This isn't a videogame or an anime, Linds. Yeah, you are a bit of a nerd, but I refuse to believe that you have completely lost it." She is expecting you to laugh, but when you don't you can tell she is getting more worried. Words are not your strength. So showing her might just be your best option. "Look, let's forget I said this for tonight. I'm gonna show you tomorrow. Got a few free periods in the morning, if you pick me up from the dorms we go to the diner and I'll convince you." She agrees. You spend the rest of the evening watching the sunset up by the lighthouse. Catching up on all the things that you missed in her life.

You moved to Seattle when you were fourteen. Your dad got transferred and you didn't have a choice. And you had to say goodbye to Emily Sonnett, your best friend since childhood. Her dad died days before in a car crash and you were leaving her alone with her grief and problems. You visited two times after that. It hurt you every time, to see her so broken, unable to be there for her all of the time. So you stopped visiting altogether. Now, five years later you see how wrong that choice was. Emily became hard, guarded, and a little addicted to alcohol and drugs. This time you can't run. Fixing Emily is your little project now. And you see that deep in her core, she hasn't changed all that much. Cause she forgave you the second you reappeared in her life. She sometimes makes jokes, about you leaving, which tell you she isn't over it entirely, but you see how hard she tries to leave it in the past. You wouldn't have blamed her if she blew up at you.

Emily is a woman of her word and even though she seemed skeptical when you told her about your newfound superpower, she picks you up at your dorm. Her mom works at the town's diner, so even if the food you consume there could never be good for you, you still eat breakfast there almost every morning. Once you place your orders, Emily turns to you with an expectant smile. "Alright, Super-Lindsey. Time to blow my mind." She makes you nervous. You tried time traveling this morning and it worked just as well as yesterday. So you have nothing to worry about. But Emily, sitting there with her effortless confidence, throws you off. "I'm gonna tell you what's in your pockets." She scoffs. "You could probably guess just because you know me well, but alright, go ahead." You guess wrong intentionally. "Perfume? Are you kidding me? What kind of psycho keeps that kind of stuff in their pocket. That was an epic fail, Linds." "Fine, show me what's in your pockets." She spills all her stuff out on the table and you do your best to remember everything in vivid detail. And then you rewind. 

You lean back and watch as Emily realizes that you just told her how many cigarettes are in her pocket, along with the time that is noted on her parking ticket. She then looks up at you with wide eyes. "Holy shit. I have to admit I'm a little freaked out by you. But this is by far the coolest shit ever." Nothing that you have done ever has gotten the predicate 'cool', so right now, with Emily looking at you like you are the most amazing human on this planet, you feel a little invincible. 

You nearly fall asleep during your science class the next day, and only Tobin, your friend sitting next to you, saves you from being caught by your science teacher. The past days have been a lot. Aside from practicing, you have also used your power to keep small, unfortunate things from happening. Rose, a shy girl from your math class, gets hit in the head by a football, so you decide to rewind and catch it before it can get to her. When you get an answer wrong in science, you just rewind and give the correct one. Sometimes, the magnitude of what you are doing escapes your mind, and when you remember again, it stresses you out to no end. You are glad to have Emily's back in this, but you shouldn't have expected anything less. That girl is the most loyal person you have ever met, she would probably walk through fire for the ones she loves. Your mind is all over the place and you find yourself not being able to concentrate on a single word that is said during class.

Yes, walking through the hallway with headphones is a little sad, but this school can be so exhausting, with all its stereotyped students. The rich ones, the athletic ones, the nerds, the losers, the skater boys. Having a near mental breakdown in the bathroom is even sadder, but everything that is currently happening is fucking with your head. Looking at yourself in the mirror, you see that you look as bad as you feel. Who knew time travel was this physically straining? You should have a mentor in this, someone to guide you. Figuring out why you suddenly have these powers had kept you awake the entire last night. Emily would say it's a gift of God. In these moments you envy her religiousness. You guess it gives her a sense of security and calmness. A stream of light comes in through the open bathroom window. It is starting to become fall, but for Oregon, it's still unnaturally warm. Just as you want to turn around and leave, a blue butterfly comes in. You've never seen one with such a vibrant color. It reminds you of the color of Emily's truck. It lands on a cleaning bucket in the corner and you decide to take a photo of it, to show Em later. 

The noise of the door slamming shut startles you and the butterfly, causing it to fly away. You peak around the corner to see Nathan, the rich and mentally unstable kid, son of the most influential politician in town. You know him, have a bunch of classes with him, and Emily told you she has sold him drugs before. You don't think she does anymore, you hope she doesn't. But as fate would have it, the next person storming in through the door is Sonnett herself. Black Adidas jacket, grey hoodie, white baseball hat. Bun that does not hold all of her hair, making a lot of it fly around her face. "Wow, you are hiding in the girl's bathroom now? Just give me my money and I'll leave you alone." Emily can come off quite scary if she wants to. "I don't have any money." "Sure, Blackwell's little rich kid has no money. Come up with a better lie, Prescott." She is now cornering him at the sink. The look on Nathan's face is one of pure fear. He is shaking and you feel kinda bad for him. But you can't step in. This is not your place, you shouldn't mess with Emily's business. And if Nathan knows you saw him in this moment of vulnerability, he would make your life hell. Just as you look down upon your hands, you hear a... gunshot? When you look up, Nathan has already left the bathroom. You see Emily lying on the floor bleeding. You freeze up. Something in the back of your mind is telling you to rewind time, but your instincts take over and crouch down next to Emily. The tips of her blond hair are already soaked in her blood and you can feel how the sight makes your heart break, how the image is now emblazoned into your mind. "Em..." She looks up at you through tired eyes. "Linds... how did you get here? Are you an angel? I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen." She dozes off. And you are left sitting there, knees and hands coated in blood. Emily's blood. You will give everything to make sure that you never have to see this again.

You rewind, after taking a deep breath. When Nathan pulls out the gun again, you hit the fire alarm. He runs away. Before Emily can run after him, you step out of the corner. "Wait." She turns towards you. "Lindsey..." "Let's get going, don't want them to suspect it was me who triggered the fire alarm." She stays silent. She also stays silent while you ride back to her house. When you enter her room, you've had enough of her quiet. "I saw you die." You can see by her confused facial expression, that she doesn't understand what you're talking about. "Nathan shot you, before my eyes, and I watched you bleed out in front of me. Then I rewound time." She falls back on her bed. "I will never get that image out of my head, Sonny. Never." "I don't know what to say." You sigh and sit down on her desk. "Yeah... I don't know either." After what feels like a few minutes you hear Emily turn on her bed. "Can you come over here?" You look over. There are tears in her eyes. You haven't seen those since you were kids. You thought Emily had become incapable of crying. "I'm sorry. I keep putting myself in these situations like I used to before you were here. No one cared enough, I didn't care either. You saved my life. Not just today, but every day since you arrived. You made it worth living again." Her eyes are pleading. Pleading for you to not let her go, to not leave her alone again. And you won't. You don't think you would be able to. 

You end up staying over at her house. You wake up without a blanket, but with her arm thrown around you. Yeah, you lived your personal hell yesterday. But with the sun shining through Emily's window and her body heat next to you, you think that the both of you will be okay.

You can tell that she is a little shaken up still, unsure of how to handle you. You could walk to the next bus stop to get back to school, but she insists on driving you. "If you want, you don't have to, we could go to the junkyard after you finish this class." You hate the junkyard. So much. You know that her ex showed her the place, but it's not just because of jealousy. It makes you uncomfortable. But something about yesterday, about this morning, makes you want to be close to her, to spend as much time with her as possible. So you agree.

Yeah, still the same. Rusty cars, freezers, tires, boats. But Emily loves it. She lays down on the hood of a red car and pulls out a cigarette. "You know how much I hate when you do that, right?" She lays the lighter back into the hood and starts to toy with the unlit cigarette in her hand. "Are you scared it's gonna hurt your reputation? Hanging out with a smoker?" You furrow your brows. This is not what this is about at all. You sit down next to her on the hood, leaning against the front window. "No. I don't give a damn about that. I just know that it hurts you, that it will kill you eventually, and that thought scares me. I fucking hate it." She turns to look at you with a cocky smile on her lips. "Wow, The Great Horan cares about me. Also, I like it when you swear a little." She flicks the cigarette away. You wish you could push her off the hood without the risk of hurting her.

"Please don't kill me, but I... stole one of my stepdad's guns." You roll your eyes so hard it hurts. Just when you thought guns wouldn't make an appearance in your life again, Emily comes waltzing into your life with another one. "With that thing, you are more likely to kill yourself." "You don't have any faith in me. What do I get if I shoot the tire of that old pickup over there?" "A punch in the face." And she is back with the pleading eyes. "Em, seriously, I would prefer it if you didn't shoot anything." "Just the tire. Then I'm done."

If by done, she meant dead, then she was spot on. Cause the bullet bounces off the rim and straight back, hitting Emily in the stomach. Again, you could avoid this entire situation by just rewinding now, but as soon as you hear Emily's pained scream, you hurry over to her side. "Fuck. Fuck, Lindsey, what do I do." She is hunched over, blood running over her hand. You wish that her blood would just stay inside her for more than one day at a time. You finally decide to rewind, cause you don't know how to answer that. But before you do, Emily turns her face towards you, eyes wide and full of pain. Another thing that will star in your nightmares forever. 

You are walking across the train tracks. Normally, this would be a bit too edgy for you, but Emily has the tendency to make you do things that you normally wouldn't do. You balance on the metal while holding Emily's hand. "You might be the best thing that has ever happened to me, Lindsey Horan. You keep saving my life. Maybe if I wasn't so dumb it wouldn't need saving, but nevermind. You are my personal superhero." "My powers might not last, Em." She squeezes your hand. "That's okay. We will. Forever."

She brings you back to the dorms. And you went along with it willingly, gladly spending a little more time with her. But now you wish you had had a little more foresight. Cause Nathan is just exiting the boy's dorm, looking right at you and Emily. "You bitch. How dare you step foot on my grounds again." Miraculously, Emily does look scared for a split second. But her walls are back up in a second. You wish she would back down from a fight just once. Before she gets the chance to throw some kind of insult back, Nathan comes running at her. "The fuck?" You turn around to see Tobin, who runs past you, tackling Nathan to the ground before he can get to you. "I got this Linds." "Get the fuck off of me." You just stand in shock as Tobin lands punch after punch on Nathan's face. "Linds... make her stop," Emily whispers in your ear. You snap out of your trance and pull Tobin off of him. Nathan is left on the floor as a whimpering mess. You can't remember the point when your life turned so violent and ruthless.

Have you mentioned that Emily makes you do stupid, reckless, idiotic shit? "You are aware that I still go to this school, right? Like, I can still get expelled." You are currently standing in front of the school swimming pool. And Emily is picking the lock. Of course, she can do that. She told you she learned it to impress cute girls, and you hate to say that it's working quite well. "Linds, we are young, teenagers, we are supposed to do stupid stuff once in a while." "Seems to me like you are doing it a lot more often than that." And the door flies open. Everything is dark. When Emily goes to flick the light on, you stop her with a decisive hand on her biceps. "If you turn the lights on, David is going to know that someone is here in a second." David is the school's security guard and Emily's stepdad. You don't think he is half bad, he cares about Emily and her mother, which, yes, can make him a little controlling at times. But you are sure that if Emily would give him an honest chance, the two of them could work it out. "Alright, turn on the flashlight of your phone. Boys or girls changing room?" The questions comes so out of the blue, you wonder if it's a trick question. "Ehrm... girls?" "Interesting, didn't know you swung that way." You shake your head at her and let out an airy laugh. Right now, you aren't exactly relaxed, but she makes you smile nonetheless. "I'll meet you inside." For some reason, Emily goes off to boys changing room, but you wouldn't enter that for a million dollars.

This is not how you imagined your day going. Evident mostly by your choice of underwear, not matching and at least partly pink. Meanwhile, Emily comes waltzing out of the boys changing room in a black sports bra along with black boxer briefs. "You didn't have to wait for me, you could've jumped in already." "I'm not too keen to do that anyway, so it's fine." Emily flicks on the pool's light so unexpectedly that the noise makes you jump. The pool now shines before you in an inviting blue. "See you inside," Emily yells, before entering the pool with a perfect dive. She then proceeds to float on her back, eyes closed. You feel a little weird, just watching her, but it makes you realize how much you missed this version of her. This at peace expression on her face. Throughout the course of this month, you have gotten to see it more and more. Even back when you were kids, Emily was rarely this calm. She is always moving, needs something to do, something to occupy her mind. That's why she is good for you, at least you think so. She keeps you from overthinking. "I can feel you watching me. Just come in, it feels like a hot tub." 

You do come in. Jump in, to be precise, just to screw with her a little. Then you join her in floating on your back. It's harder to hear her this way, but with the way all sounds are a little muted you start to relax. Especially with her calm and slightly raspy voice in your ear. "Since you arrived my entire life changed. And then you got this power, and it's changing everything even more. Especially you. I can tell. You aren't so scared anymore." The two of you float over to the edge of the pool. You lay your head down on your folded arms and watch her do the same. "You are becoming this force of nature. You saved my life." "But my powers fail me often enough. Maybe I'm just stumbling back and forth in time. And I don't see a reason yet." Emily dips her head underwater for a second, shaking the water out of her hair when reemerging. Is she trying to kill you? "Did you stumble when you saved me in the bathroom?" "No. But you make me feel like I know what I'm doing." The smile she gives you now might be the softest thing you have ever seen. "And you make me feel like I still have a reason to be here." "I hope so..." She looks down onto the tiles, tracing their pattern with her index finger. Your breath catches in your throat when she reaches over and takes your hand in hers. "You are smart and talented and everything I never was. Once you get over yourself, you are gonna make the world bow." She leaves you speechless. This has happened a ton of times already, but you always found a way to recover. She begins toying with your fingers, while slowly looking up at you. And while you are stumped right now, you see something in her eyes that makes you even more confused. She seems shy. Her eyes are flicking over your face a million miles an hour. Until they get caught on your lips. And you get it. When you start to lean in, the look of surprise on her face is priceless, like she wouldn't have suspected this in a million years. Like she was not so blatantly obvious a few seconds ago. Like you couldn't possibly want the same thing. But she is still Emily, and once your lips meet hers, she has recovered. And apparently, it's your turn to take the backseat again, as she slightly turns you so she is pressing you against the pool wall.

You don't want to be here. This party is a waste of time in your opinion. The popular kids of the school do this every chance they get. Convince the principal to pay for their reckless consumption of alcohol and drugs while trashing some part of the school. And Emily begged you to go. You don't understand why, but it gives you an uneasy feeling. Cause she does not like a single student at her former school. You can think of only one reason for her sudden enthusiasm. Drugs and alcohol. You see how hard she tries every day. You assume that her usage of both of these things has decreased since you came back. Every day she promises you that she will get over it eventually. Last night, her promises had seemed especially convincing. Maybe because she had you panting in her bed. You tell yourself that you can hold your own in an argument against her, but ultimately, especially since sex was added, you never stood a chance. 

Once you enter the pool building, you are blinded by a thousand pink and purple lights. The music playing is just a dark, monotone bass, nothing that makes you want to stay longer than five minutes. You can make out the shadows of a bunch of students in the pool. You eye the corner that Emily and you were making out in yesterday. This seems like a different world now. And Emily... She seems like a different person. "Do you want to get us something to drink? I'm gonna head to the bathroom." You wish you could drag her out of here and yell at her. Yell at her for not telling you what the fuck the both of you are doing here, why she is hiding something from you again when you thought that after yesterday, you finally cracked the 19-year-old mystery that is Emily Sonnett. But this morning you woke up to her in the kitchen, being weirdly distant, acting as if nothing happened at all. And even then you would've loved to yell at her. To scream all your frustration and your pent up feelings out, for her to hear. Blame her for making you fall for her, for making you care so much. But you didn't do it then and you won't do it now. You are scared of coming off like too controlling. And a million other things. You are scared she will leave your side. But she already did that, because as soon as you turn around to answer her question, Emily is gone, somewhere between these masses of students you don't trust one bit.

You have been looking for Emily for ten minutes now and you are both pissed and worried. Two reoccurring emotions when it comes to dealing with Sonnett. Aimlessly wandering around the party didn't help you a bit. You have exited the building, hoping to catch her outside, maybe smoking. And honestly, you just need the space to breathe for a second. You run into a drunk Tobin. "Hey, Linds. Welcome to the end of the world. Thanks for escorting me." She is drunk and it is more than hilarious. You wish you would've fallen for a girl like her. Loyal, balanced, calm. "Are you alright after the fight? With Nathan?" That you dragged even her into this mess makes you feel... shitty. "I'm glad you stopped me. Nathan is crazy. You should stop letting yourself be put in danger by Emily. Seriously." You know how right she is. "Well, right now she can't, cause she left me alone. And is off to somewhere dangerous alone." "If I see her I will let her know she sucks. You wanna take a picture? For prosperity?" And you do. Cause while you know that Tobin was joking earlier, this does feel a little like the end of the world. 

You enter the party again. As much as you wish you could head to your dorm and forget about this, you have to find Emily. Even if Tobin told you to not let yourself be dragged into danger by her, you can't leave her to fend on her own. You decide to approach the girl at working at the wardrobe. You have seen her briefly before, you believe she is a friend of Tobin's. "Hey, Christen?" "Yeah. Lindsey, right? Can I help you with something?" "I'm looking for my friend. Shorter than me, larger than life attitude, blond hair, freckles." Christen chuckles. "Yeah, I think I know who you are talking about. She asked me about Nathan early." Jesus. Why the fuck does Emily dive headfirst into trouble every chance she gets? "Do you know where she went?" "No, sorry. But good luck finding her, this place is a mess." Sadly, you have to agree. But since your life is currently a mess as well, you should feel right at home. 

Now you are right in the center of the madness. You can imagine how out of place you look. Wearing your usual sportswear, while everyone else is sporting bikinis and bathing shorts. But most of the students are too drunk to recognize their own shadow right now. 

You talk to everyone who you have seen at least once before, but no one has seen either Emily or Nathan. It is driving you nuts. You worry. About her. Nothing new, but right now, you aren't able to help her. Sure, you didn't get your powers to be Emily's personal security, but she knows what she'd be without you. Dead. Why would she not ask you for help?

You are stopped at the VIP section of the party. Why a high school party would need a VIP space is beyond you. You know the girl sitting at the desk, not by name though. You try the confident approach. "I'm gonna go in." "I'm pretty sure I won't find Lindsey Horan on this list." Apparently, she knows you by name. And she knows how not popular you are. Of course, you aren't on the list. There is no one rich or cool enough in your friend circle to get you in there and you didn't even wanna go to this party in the first place, so you didn't bother. "Fuck off." The look of shock on the girl's face is enough to make you smile a little. Emily is right. You are changing.

You remember Emily and her pointless wish to change in the boy's restroom last night. Upon entering, you instantly know that this is the place to consume drugs. The air is stuffy, and people are standing around, looking like they don't even know where they are. You recognize Kelley, one of the skater girls, looking so incredibly stoned that you don't know if a conversation with her will make any sense. But you know that she knows and likes Emily, so she might be able to tell you a little about her whereabouts. "Yooo, The Great Horan has entered the party. Do want some?" She holds something that resembles a joint in your direction, but you don't even want to know what's in it. "Well, you look like you've had some already. Why are you here?" This party is full of people that are normally above this kind of bullshit. It's like everyone is acting ridiculously out of character. Just like you have been doing since you discovered you are some kind of pathetic superhero. "Arcadia Bay is lame as hell. Where else would I go? Besides... Alex is here. Just not with me. This party hasn't been the greatest so far." Right, Alex. The girl that is so hilariously straight that it almost makes her seem a bit gay again. "Speaking of not the greatest. Have you seen Nathan? Or Emily?" "Nathan is probably getting wasted in the VIP area. Emily, haven't seen her. In a while actually. She has been avoiding the school like the plague since she got expelled. Too bad." You wonder if Emily had actual friends at the school. Cause the way Kelley is talking about her makes it seem like she cared about her as well. Maybe help for Emily was closer than she thought. But you know that Emily is good at pushing people away. "Alright... If you see one of them, text me. And stay away from Nathan. Please." Kelley and you were never close. But you think it's only human to get the instinct to protect in these situations. With Kelley's lost and delirious eyes, you want to keep her safe. "I know I'm high as a bird right now, but you sound intense. And your voice is all... weird. You alright?" You smile. Yeah, there are a lot of fucked up people living in this town. But if you search hard enough you will find people who've got your back. "I'm cool, Kelley. Stay safe." "Will do, Lindsey!" 

The little amount of comfort that Kelley provided you with is gone again. After leaving the bathroom, which led to exactly nowhere, you go around the other side of the pool. You find something like a back entrance to the VIP lounge. This is so poorly hidden, that you can't help but wonder why random people haven't been invading the VIP area. 

Somehow, this part of the party is even worse. Less crowded, but not a single person with a bit of human decency. You know them all, they make sure of it, but you despise them even more. What do they do besides spending their parent's cash and bullying other students? Right, nothing. And you see the potential for change in every single one of them. But it just doesn't happen. You run into Alex, grinding up on some random guy. "Lindsey! Didn't know you were coming, we could've dressed up together." Are drunk people always this nice? Cause Alex is way too popular to ever bother with befriending you. You know she is a decent person, you see her hanging out with Kelley a lot, but when it comes down to it, she seems to choose the easy route. "If you can't tell by my outfit I was in a bit of a hurry. Have you seen Nathan?" "No, not at all. I was dancing with Trevor. You wanna join us?" "Ehr, no. But you guys look very happy together." She smiles. "We are. It's different than with Logan. We actually talk about life and stuff." You don't even know who Logan is, but considering 'talking about life' something phenomenal is astounding to you. And it hurts a little to think about the stoned girl in the boy's bathroom who would've treated this girl right all along. "Well, if you see Nathan text me." "I feel a little bad for him, you know? He needs help. His dad is putting too much pressure on him. He is so fucking rich, but you can't buy a happy family." 

You want to leave. So badly. And you are beginning to think that this is not worth it. Yes, you want to protect Emily at every cost. But she left your side. And God, do you wish she were here right now. Cause all these dudes are hitting on you, everyone is offering you something to drink or to smoke and you are getting overwhelmed. You miss her warmth next to you, her effortless confidence and calm demeanor. Also, this is kind of her world. She wouldn't be fazed by someone offering her a blunt. You feel like you have been wandering around here forever, and you are scared that you are running out of time. Even though you don't know what exactly you are chasing. 

And then you find her. Not Emily. But the girl who you hope is going to help you find both her and Nathan. Victoria, head-bitch of the rich-kids-with-problems-club. You know that she considers Nathan her friend. And the two of you don't get along. It's a shame. You think of her as intelligent and witty. But she uses it for the wrong things. As much as you don't want to talk to Victoria, you know that you might get vital information about Nathan's whereabouts. And Emily's. You tap her on the shoulder. "Lindsey? What the fuck are you doing here? There is no way you are on the list." "Well, I'm in here, am I not?" "Then I'm gonna get you kicked out." You will never know what her problem is. With you especially. You aren't perfect either, you never said you were, but a good amount of humanity has never been bad for anyone. Almost everyone seems to be lacking that though. Victoria especially. "Calm down. Why can't we just talk like normal people? Without throwing insults at each other." "We aren't friends Lindsey. We never will be either. So get lost." "I hope one day this will be different." "You don't need to get all philosophical on me." You decide that this bickering around is not worth your time. "Listen, have you seen Nathan?" "If I had, why would I tell you?" He is her friend. And a super unstable guy. He doesn't do friends. You think he might be incapable of bonding with other people. Victoria is not safe. No one is. "Look, I know Nathan is your friend and everything. But he is truly dangerous. And you are as much at risk as everyone else here. So don't let your guard down around him." She just narrows her eyes. "Nice try, Lindsey. But that's straight-up bullshit. I'm the only person in this place that cares about Nathan, about his problems. He knows that. And I know that he is a little damaged, but I know he would never seriously hurt someone." Your face becomes hard as pictures of a bleeding Emily appear before your eyes. Never hurt anyone your ass! "I have a friend. She and he had a little... disagreement. And he pulled a gun on her. Victoria, his little meltdowns aren't so little anymore. Yeah, his family treats him like crap and he deserves better but he has become deadly. He is out of control. Believe me, watch out for yourself." Her face softens and you wonder what is going on inside her head. "Sometimes I don't understand why you are so nice for no reason. You don't give a shit about what anybody thinks." Oh boy, is she wrong. You worry so much. Overthinking is your thing. Emily taught you to give less fucks. And you try to do so. Small steps in the right direction. "About Nathan though... He is becoming more sick and twisted. Even I can see that. It's scary to think about. But I haven't seen him at all today." If not even Victoria knows where Nathan is, who does? This seems like a dead-end search. Honestly, you have been asking people about Nathan, but you could not care about him any less. Yeah, you feel empathy for him too. But at this point, it's better to just steer clear of him. You just wish that Emily would do that too. You have told her a million times that doing business with Nathan is a dumb idea. The last time she tried to get her money he shot her. And she didn't learn. Sure, she never actually experienced it, but you were hoping that your tears were enough to show her the magnitude of what happened that day. No, she is running after him again. 

You don't find Nathan. He is gone. Everything in the pool was too much for you. So you decided to take the next possible exit, the backdoor. The cold, fresh air that hits you makes you feel like you can breathe again. Like it clears your head. And then you stop dead in your tracks. In the grass before you lies Emily. Covered in blood yet again. And the deep breath you just took gets stuck in your throat. "No, no, no. Emily, what the fuck happened?" You can see the wound of the gunshot, straight through her hoodie. It's almost like a copy of the one in the bathroom. But Emily is cold. And not conscious. You feel for a pulse that isn't there. Your breath quickens and you feel yourself starting to panic. How do you fix this? Yes, you can rewind time, but how far can it take you? You have no idea how long Emily has been lying here. Could have been minutes after she left you. But there is nothing left to do except for trying. You promised yourself that you would keep her safe, keep her from her self-destructive behavior. You failed. And now you have to make up for it.

Rewinding time is a painful process for you. The pressure on your head keeps increasing, the further back you travel and you begin to shake. And around you, nothing changes. Emily still lays unmoving in the grass. Time goes back faster and she is opening her eyes, clutching at her wound, saying your name. Now your head isn't the only thing that hurts. You can see your vision fading to black and you fall on your knees. You haven't thought about what you are gonna do when you are faced with Nathan and a gun. There is no fire alarm you can trigger and you are sure that at this point, Nathan wouldn't even care. Also, you are pretty sure you are going to be unconscious by the time you have traveled all the way back.

"Lindsey? What the fuck?" Hearing Emily's voice feels like taking aspirin. It cuts through the intense pain in your head. "What happened, I just left you inside." Right. You traveled back in time. And now you have to get the heck away from here. "Yeah, you left me inside, to get yourself killed once again." You open your eyes and see Emily crouched by your side, wiping at your nose with her shirt. You know it's bleeding, it happens sometimes. "What?" All your emotions come back at once. "You lied about where you were going to get shot by Nathan once again. I was searching all around that stupid party full of drugged up idiots to find you. And in the end, I'm greeted by the sight of your lifeless body. Do you know what that does to me? To see you like that, to feel like I've lost you for the third time this week? Have you ever been in love? Like, so in love that you would give up everything? Cause I'm giving up everything. I gave up my reputation, my education, my life this week trying to keep you by my side, but you keep making it more difficult for me." For all the times that she has left you speechless, this is your ultimate payback. "I-I don't know what to say." "Yeah, that seems to be a pattern with you." "I wanted to end this thing with Nathan. Once and for all. Get my money, pay back my dealer. And start over. With you. Cause I want to give up everything for you, too. Every single piece of my bullshit-life. You deserve better, the best version of me. And I'm trying to become that. It just takes me some time and... I still am this person who takes things lightly. In this case a little too lightly. And I love you. So I didn't want to drag you into this, endanger you without good enough reason." You know that the two of you are doomed. Two idiots in love that make all the wrong decisions. So another one doesn't hurt. You kiss her. Despite Nathan maybe being just around the corner, ready to shoot you both. Yeah, you had sex last night, but the passion of this kiss doesn't compare to that. "We have to get moving, Em." "Why?" "Nathan." She looks down at her phone. "I don't think he is gonna show. I wanted to text him, to meet me here. But then you appeared out of thin air and I got a little distracted." You take a deep breath. "Please, let's just get out of here." "Your wish is my command." She swoops you up in her arms like you weigh nothing. "Please let this Nathan thing rest. I will pay off whatever debts you have. I just don't want you near that psycho ever again." She kisses your temple. "You have already done so much for me. I will work it out. Get a job, a normal one. We will be fine. I promise." As you leave the party behind in her truck, the thumping bass slowly fading away in the distance, you can't help but believe her. You always will.


End file.
